Guess I’m saying if you’re having concerns, it’s certainly worth getting looked at. Just hard to say if surgery is the culprit. Could be something else. Hate to see you miss something serious if it’s dismissed as being a result of surgery.

Well-known member

I had my AVR in 2011. I have always been absent minded and also forgetful of a lot of things that do not interest me. I have continued to be that way since. Lately, my memory has gotten worse but I think it has more to do with aging than anything else. I am planning to start doing mindfulness meditation and yoga to see it they help.

New member

Well, I stand corrected. Thank you. Please accept my apologies. I just visited the site for the first time yesterday. I should have read a little more to get a better flavor of the posts before making my weak attempts at humor. I apologize for offending. I did not mean any harm. This is a serious issue and a source of concern and stress for many, and I would never want to add to their suffering through inconsiderate and thoughtless comments.

Well-known member

I navigated my collegiate career and passed some pretty tough licensing/ certification exams in the years after my first surgery in high school. In fact, I was much better post-secondary as a student than I ever was in high school.

Looking at posters having their first surgery at 60 and 70 years old, I would guess normal aging is likely the culprit.

Well-known member

As some of you have now had your surgery behind you for some time. Hows your memory function been since being put under for valve replacement? Is your memory just as sharp, do you attribute any change in memory function to just plain aging, or perhaps a result of your surgery? Please share with me what you've experienced, if you will. Thanks

None here. Two OHSs about 10 years apart. It’s been almost 20 years since the first one. I did the crossword this morning in 8 1/2 minutes...
Shorter pump time is a plus I know and both of my operations were done with less than an hour of pump time.

New member

I had no noticeable loss of memory post OP after initial valve replacement surgery.
But.....now 6 years later.....I have some memory loss issues, but had to have a very serious and major surgery with complications. Surgery lasted a little over 15 hours. Kidneys, liver, bladder, intestines....lots of organs, sadly my heart and brain included.....were severely deprived of oxygen. Kidneys and Heart took the biggest hits that we know of. Dr still cant believe I'm off dialysis. They told me the damage was severe and to expect long term dialysis.....but most likely lifelong.
I was off 7 weeks after discharge from hospital, and kidney function is at 100%.
However.....my EF dropped from 35-40 down to 10-15 in the year following. I have experienced a few vision issues that the Dr dont seem to think have anything to do with it, and I definitely do have memory issues.....but again, they say it has nothing to do with surgery.....they blame a concussion sustained 30 years ago.
I say BS.
I'd pursue it if you are concerned.

Well-known member

Well, I stand corrected. Thank you. Please accept my apologies. I just visited the site for the first time yesterday. I should have read a little more to get a better flavor of the posts before making my weak attempts at humor. I apologize for offending. I did not mean any harm. This is a serious issue and a source of concern and stress for many, and I would never want to add to their suffering through inconsiderate and thoughtless comments.

Yes! A strong possibility, especially if the surgery was long, as in my case over 8 hrs!
But as long as you remember important things, others will improve with cognitive behavior therapy and exercises!

Well, I stand corrected. Thank you. Please accept my apologies. I just visited the site for the first time yesterday. I should have read a little more to get a better flavor of the posts before making my weak attempts at humor. I apologize for offending. I did not mean any harm. This is a serious issue and a source of concern and stress for many, and I would never want to add to their suffering through inconsiderate and thoughtless comments.

Family member of same parents sometimes take thinks lightly or seriously.
To me personally, your response sounded written in a light manner/matter...so you agree about forgetfulness since you forgot what you wanted to say! It happens to...I enter a room to ask hubby something, then my question disappears!!!

Active member

I was very impacted after surgery. I could not concentrate to read and I was very very confused about the order of events.
But worse than that I could not remember things the year before and now I cannot remember much of the year after.
That said, I already have short term long term memory transfer issues. I work very hard to retain things and
Have many methods to keep track of dates , events, activities. So my pre existing problem was made worse.
For awhile . Now I think my retention is similar to pre surgery (and all of those temporary medications really really made me feel off)
Also Any anesthesia messes me up for a long time. Like where the heck is my car? Did I already have that appointment? Ugh.
So I just tell people I have some bad neurological design flaws and having my brain "frozen" did NOT help !
Plus I am a great audience for your favorite story or joke, I won’t mind if you already told it to me a while ago.

New member

AVR in 2016. My surgeon warned me that my cognitive ability may be impacted for 6 months or so, but that the symptoms should go away, however there was a chance that it could be permanent. Day to day, I am fine, but my job requires complex analytical thought, and I have noticed that I am just not capable of the level of complexity I used to manage with relative ease. I definitely attribute this change to my surgery.

Professional Dingbat

I believe that there is sufficient evidence to support that there is cognitive damage done somehow in OHS, not just from this thread, but from my own experience and the published literature.

So the question becomes what are you doing about it?

There are many things that cause such things (brain damage), equally there are well understood views approaches to get people to work that organ (the brain) and retrain. It has after all been shown to be an adaptable organ.

My view is that while such changes may become permanent it is also my view that if you work on it you can restore quite a bit of it over time. But there's the rub, you have to work on it. I have a friend who after an accident and an IC bleed lost quite an amount of his cognitive function, now after 2 years he's at a level where nobody would notice (although he himself observes the losses still).

The next thing to consider is that to the best of human ability heart surgery is where it is. We are (or should be) all clear that without said surgery we would be dead. Being alive gives one the opportunity to deal with the ongoing issues resulting from that surgery.

Perhaps a better direction for this would be "what is your intention to improve function going forward" and "how have you adapted your life to this"

Well-known member

I came across this old joke today and felt it was relevant here to this thread

A guy was going home from the auto mechanic and just as he was passing a psychiatric center, a wheel fell off his car. He stopped, surveyed the situation and realized that the mechanic must have been distracted and never put on the nuts for the last tire. In his frustration he yelled out, “Oh God, what am I going to do now!” A patient who was standing by the fence, observing the action shouted out, “take a nut from each of the other three wheels and bolt the tire back on. The driver then said, “That’s a good idea, why are you in the psychiatric center?” The patient answered, “I am here because I am sick…not stupid.”